Princess Puffer

A mysterious, “haggard woman” of no known name, who runs the opium den in London which John Jasper has been frequenting. She speaks in “a querulous, rattling whisper” with a great sense of self-pity for herself and the tough economic times in which she is trying to run her business, yet despite the always maintains that her opium is of better quality than that of her competitor on the other side of the court, Jack Chinaman. Visitors to her business should not hold high expectations of location; the “ragged window-curtain” and “unseemly bed” are the chief highlights of the woman’s choice of decor, but she does at least keep a safe environment by confiscating the knives of Lascars driven fierce by the drugs.

This strange woman has taken a great interest in her customer John Jasper; she was recently seen in Cloisterham on two occasions; the first being the day of Edwin Drood’s disappearance. She and Drood talked, during which time she spoke of threats that she had heard made against one called Ned. She then followed Jasper back after his next visit to her establishment, finally identifying her mysterious customer as the choirmaster of Cloisterham, and in so doing revealing his darker secret to Deputy and Durdles. The precise nature of her interest in Jasper, and how – if at all – it may be connected to the Drood disappearance, remains unclear.